Wednesday, August 27, 2003

The latest Powerbook hub bub...

MacBidouille is claiming that Motorola has fallen so far behind in producing the 7457 G4 that Apple will put a revised 7455 in the next Powerbook revision.

While it's really quite believeable that Moto has screwed up again, we have to remember that this is a rumor. And MacBidouille doesn't have a great accuracy record as of late.

Of course - as I already said - it seems very possible that Moto could be behind on production. In that case, this rumor could in fact be accurate. That possibility has led some to complain that after such a long wait, Apple will only present us with lackluster speedbumps in the upcoming Powerbook revision. I'm willing to argue that even without the 7457, new Powerbooks - at least the 12" and 15" - could still be a big improvement over the current ones.

A revision to the 15" Powerbook would mean a new enclosure, with AirPort Extreme, FireWire 800, a newer graphics card, a possibly backlit keyboard, and more new tech. Remember, it's been nearly ten months since the last TiBook update.

The 12" Powerbook has plenty of room for improvement outside of its processor. Apple could make it thinner, give it some much needed L3 cache, and possibly even add a backlit keyboard. On top of a speedbump, that would be a nice revision.

The point I'm trying to make is that even if this rumor is correct (emphasis on the word "if"), it doesn't mean Apple can't pull off a decent revision to the Powerbook line.